A Sydney food blog celebrating the world's great culinary underbelly. We are ham-fisted enthusiasts who dig traditional foods, hole-in-the-wall restaurants, and international supermarkets of mystery.

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27 November 2012

Mie Kocok Bandung ~ Indonesian - Maroubra

A couple of years ago we travelled through Java and couldn't make it to Bandung due to time constraints. How lucky are we that we can find a Bandung restaurant right here in Sydney?

There's some not-so-subtle clues to suggest that the noodle dishes are the pick here: there's an "I Heart Noodles" sign on the front door; nearly every diner is eating noodles; and the joint is even named after a noodle dish, a beef noodle soup. And dang the noodles are good, there's just something about those yellow bakmi noodles that has us hooked.

Mie Kocok Bandung is your standard hole-in-the wall Indonesian joint, with sambals on the tables, prawn crackers in packets, and write-it-yourself ordering pads on the table (the novelty of this never wears off for us). There's often a queue here but the tables turn over fairly quick, you never have to wait too long. We quickly learn to time our visits around the lunch rush to beat the crowds.

According to their website, Maroubra's Mie Kocok Bandung has been around since 2003, which is a long time in restaurant terms. The joint was been recommended by our Indo-loving readers more than a few times over the years, for which we are most grateful, we may never have known it existed otherwise.

Whole trays of fried croquettes are ready for your picking pleasure. Take what you want and drizzle some sauce over them. Remember to tell the boss what you've had when you pay the bill.

The first round one is a potato and mince number, the second a stick of fried vegies and thin rice noodles. About $2 each.

This baby is like an Indonesian piroshki in sate sauce. Mr Hangover likes this. About $2.

Lo Mie Bandung - $10. A thick beefy noodle soup. An Indonesian version of the Singaporean\Malaysian classic, loh mee, but with an extra beefy flavour kick to the broth. This is a surprise hit, we absolutely love it.

Mie Kocok Campur - $10. Combination beef flavoured soup. A simple, clear Chinese style broth with balls of mystery meat and random cow bits. The big bugger meatball had a quail egg in the middle. A plain dish that would be sublimely refreshing in Java's baking heat. The noodles are fantastic. Indonesian noodles are very much underrated.

The boss dude will let you know which chili from the table set goes with which dish, a nice touch.

Just when you thought you've tried enough, they get you for more flavours at the counter. Abon sapi is a kind of meat floss you can sprinkle and eat with rice, eggs or bread. There's a recipe for it here.

I guess you have not read the menu carefully as this restaurant do not have satay with peanut sauce as others do. This is PADANG style satay which use spiced gravy sauce instead. Next time you should try my fav dish , rice with rendang or their signature dish "Baso campur special".

Hm those lontong ayams look delicious! but more importantly, could it be that you haven't been to Vietnam yet?! we are going soon and of course i came straight to your blog to see if you had any recommendations and nothing about Vietnam?! Isn't Vietnam the street food mecca of the world? :)

I wish we had photos of our first ever meal in Vietnam in 2003. Live bucket of little eel like fish poured straight into a steaming pot of soup, lid banged down to make sure they didn't leap out. Shawn and I just looked at each other and grinned and said "This is going to be great trip!"

Thanks for your comment joy - please keep your musings happy - if you want to complain about a restaurant please do it on a restaurant review site (or your own blog) - we're all about celebrating cultural diversity and the great eats that come along with it :-)

Our ethics: We pay for all our own meals and travel (though sometimes Mum shouts us).